PET is a thermoplastic polyester that can be formed from 1,2-dihydroxyethane (“ethanediol”) and terephthalic acid by direct esterification to form bis(hydroxy ethyl)terephthalate ester (“BHT”) which is then polymerized by catalyzed ester exchange to useful polymers.
Traditionally, PET has been used extensively because it can be offered as an oriented film or fiber, has high tenacity, good electrical resistance and low moisture absorption together with a melting point of approximately 265° C. PET has been found to be particularly valuable for the manufacture of bottles for containing carbonated drinks where the bottle must have good tensile strength to resist explosion, and low mass for convenient transport and use. The extensive use of polyethylene terephthalate bottles has given rise to the need to recycle the PET bottles.
Methods for the removal of contaminants from PET are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,602,187, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. The methods disclosed in this patent all required a first pretreatment step to embrittle the PET components of the composition. Thereafter, the embrittled components are further treated so as to allow the contaminants to be removed. In particular, the PET was first embrittled in ethanediol then crushed and foreign plastics which remain uncrushed removed. The crushed crumb may be separated from paper fiber and glue by hindered settling.
This embrittlement step requires substantial time, manpower and expense to obtained the finished product.
The rise in the usage of PET bottles has caused a decrease in the usage of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) bottles as they are more expensive and are difficult to recycle. This development has markedly increased the PET content of the available recycled plastic bottle feedstock. Additionally, improvements in sorting technology now provides feedstock PET having lower contamination levels then the earlier feedstocks. Further, improvements in washing technology has resulted in reduction of potentially harmful contamination in such feedstocks.
As a result, a need exists for an improvement in the method for removal of contaminants from the PET feedstock to take advantage of the above noted advantages provided by these new technologies.